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 NSAA President Ann Demeter Krapish and artist B.L. Schlemm present a check to Rosemary Haughton and Nancy Schwoyer of Wellspring House. |
Eleven years ago artist B.L. Schlemm, A.W.S., offered to teach a series of six watercolor classes at Wellspring House in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Wellspring was founding in 1981 and has served the famous fishing community of Gloucester not only as a shelter for battered women and their children but has grown to include projects such as support for small businesses, educational resources for those starting over, affordable housing, and other social justice initiatives. Schlemm, a distinguished professional artist, author of Painting with Light and other books on watercolor, an internationally recognized teacher, and a Dolphin Fellow of the American Watercolor Society, respected Wellspring's work and wanted to help support it. With the assistance of artists from the Cape Ann Watercolor Society, Schlemm began to teach an annual series of workshops that raised thousands of dollars for Wellspring. Within a few years her classes had become so popular that the meeting rooms at Wellspring could no longer accommodate them and they moved to the cafeteria of Gloucester High School. |
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| Other artists, impressed with the contributions that the Wellspring Painters Group, as it came to be known, were making began offering to lend support. By 2002 over seventy aspiring artists were signed up for Schlemm's classes and professional artists such as Theresa Wonson, Marilyn Swift, Trudy Allen, Paul George, Ed and Sharon Carson, John Terelak and Tom Nicholas, N.A. were volunteering time to continue the good work. Not only did they raise funds through the class fees but, thanks to Sharon Pablo and Roger Armstrong of State of the Art Gallery in historic Rocky Neck Art Colony, an annual two week exhibition was held to sell the paintings created in the workshops. In nine years thousands of dollars were raised not only for Wellspring but for the Cape Ann Food Pantry, Action, Inc., Cape Ann Animal Rescue, and other worthwhile causes. Then in 2003, because of severe budget cuts, Gloucester High School became too expensive for the group to continue. It was a devastating blow both to the artists who had come to enjoy the camaraderie and inspiration of the annual event and to those organizations that it benefited. |
 B.L. and Anne watching an artist demonstration during the Tithing Our Talents event at the NSAA in October 2003 |
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Schlemm invited some friends who had played
a significant role in the Wellspring Painters Group to have dinner with
her. Included in the group was North Shore Arts Association Gallery Director
Trudy Allen, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston art curator Rebecca Reynolds,
and graphic artist and web developer Kathleen Valentine. Over dinner they
conjured a vision of groups of talented individuals of all sorts organizing
to donate their time to teach their skills to others for a fee which would
then be donated to various causes. |
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The next step was to approach artist Anne Demeter Krapish, President of Gloucester's distinguished North Shore Arts Association, with the idea of using their inspirational facilities for a seven day event with the goal of raising $10,000. Anne presented the idea to the NSAA's Board of Trustees and they agreed to host the project. From that point on the project became increasingly exciting. Schlemm invited her fellow artists to donate a morning or afternoon to the project. In no time the list of teachers was so impressive that the classes were completely filled within weeks. By the time the first Tithing Our Talents event opened on October 14th, 2003, one hundred and nine students were signed up for the courses. The North Shore Arts Association was so pleased with the success that they offered their facility for a second event to be held in the Spring of 2004. As those of us who organized and participated in the event worked on it we kept saying "other groups could do this - just think what could happen if other people did this, too". And so we decided to present our idea and our method to the world via this web site. Please feel free to contact us for more information and let us know of your events - we'd be happy to feature them here. Thanks, for visiting our site and help us spread the word. We all have natural talents and passions. We believe they can be used for so much good - both for ourselves and for the world!!! - Kathleen Valentine, for Tithing Our Talents, October 2003 NSAA Event |
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| The function of art is to deepen our communion with the universe. Art isn't a profession but a priesthood." - Goethe © Copyright
2003 Tithing Our Talents • All rights reserved.
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